Sony VGX-XL3 - Page 102

Hi Jeff. Wow, "sounds" like the Gremlins have got you down (pun intended). I didn't use SPDIF in Windows 7 64-bit. I encounter no sound issues just using the HDMI out to my Sony tuner/receiver and pass-through to HDTV. Wish I could help.

Jeff, do your devices all support 32-bit, and do you have 32-bit drivers for all? And do you have your old SSD wiped and available (or a wiped HDD) that you could try using the 32-bit version of Windows 7? If "yes", and you would like to try the 32-bit version I'll be happy to burn a DVD copy and mail it to you in the Garden State (provided Gov. Christie didn't also cut mail service in the state to reduce the deficit?)

I think you mentioned that you had purchased an OEM copy, so you probably didn't get both the 32-bit and 64-bit disks? If you would like to give it a try just send me your mailing address by Private Message and I'll send it to you (FYI: your Microsoft Key will work with either version; but just one machine of course. The full "Retail" package comes with both version discs).

Cheers!
Robert.

Yes, it ws the OEM you better know what the hell you're doing 64 bit only one time intall only version. The thing is, I *can* get it working...and then it gradually drifts away from being fully operational. If I run only Media Center and never run TMT or a game or Media Player or probably Flash, I might be able to keep it going indefinitely.

And as you well know, 64 bit may run a 32 bit (or maybe even 16 bit) program but it doesn't like a 32 bit driver very much at all.

I have not activated it, so Microsoft doesn't yet know the shrink wrap has been opened. I could always - gasp! - go back to Vista, that's still sitting all by itself on its own SSD. (Now that I've deleted over 100 incompatible movies!)

I am sure that Microsoft will eventually fix this - and the fact that the exact same problem crops up in reviews of many different manufacturers' units convinces me that Windows 7 is at the heart of the problem. I just don't think that HDPCs are very high on their list. Meanwhile, thanks for the offer, but I have the Soundblaster re-installed and that "default" reset button is mighty handy.

REPLY: Anytime, Jeff. I have faith that you can better those Gremlins. I'm hoping you'll stick with Windows 7 (for ALL our benefit) given that you are the "Problem Solver in Chief."

I think the reason I have had so few issues with my Windows 7 64-bit installation is that I'm really not doing much with my XL2A that is 'outside the box'; literally and figuratively. I have in effect given up the two XL1B changers (after using them to batch-rip all of my DVD's and audio CD's collection to the HDD's). And the only 'extenders' I am using are a pair of Sony SMP-N100 WiFi Network Media Player (Streaming Player) units. Everything else is 'inside the box', as far as cards, hardware, etc. (the exception being the SansDigital boxes that I mentioned previously). And all of my other Home theater components (HDTV, Tuner/Receiver, etc.), are also Sony. So everything plays nice with everything else.

I guess sometimes my lack of knowledge about this stuff keeps me from venturing too far into the unexplored woods. I only go as far as my string line and bread crumbs will take me!

Say, Jeff, after my previous message it occurred to me that if you are so inclined you can download the free trial .ISO image of Windows 7 "Enterprise" 32-bit; should you decide at some point in the future to give it a try to see if it will play nice (nicer) with your applications and devices.

"Enterprise" is the complete Windows 7 suite (the closest retail equivalent is "Ultimate"). I have been told, although I can't personally verify this, that when you install "Enterprise" you can chose the Windows version you want to install on your machine.

Here's the link for downloading the 90-day free trial 32-bit version, or a 'VHD' (virtual hard disk) 32-bit version:

http://wingeek.com/news/40147/windows-7-90day-trial-download-32bit-and-64bit/

90-days is a nice window for finding solutions to better those Gremlins, huh?

Happy New Year everyone!

Cheers!
Robert.

hi everyone don't know if in right place but have a vgx-xl301 which i'm using as a spare but have got no sound got the 7600 inside but tried everything can someone tell me what drivers they are using for the 7600 and the sigmatel audio, i've spent the last 2 weeks looking on this site and others but still no joy. please can you help

REPLY: Hi 'lardys'.

*Are you running the OEM Vista Home Premium, or has the machine been upgraded to Windows 7?

*Have you already tried the drivers available on the Sony Support UK site?
http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/pro...-XL301/updates

*Have you already tried automatically updating and/or manually updating the driver in "Device Manager"?

*Have you already tried rolling back the driver in "Device Manager" (sometimes will fix a driver corrupted by automatic Windows updates)

*Have you already tried deleting (uninstalling) the device in "Device Manager", then rebooting the system to allow Windows to identify new hardware and reinstall the driver from the Windows directory?

The more specific information you can provide us (OS, updates of changes preceding the issue, etc.) the easier it will be to help with the issue.

Cheers!
Robert.

hi yes at present running windows 7 ultimate have tried the latest driver for 6400 to the first thats on sony website, had the same problem with my xl100 but got that working ok tried the same drivers but still no sound

REPLY: 'Lardys', give this a try. First print the instructions so that you can follow them exactly.
Let us know if this gets you going again.

http://www.sony.co.uk/support/en/pro...000156867_3736

Cheers!
Robert.

PS. If the above doesn't get you going, you might want to upgrade your OEM Sony/nVidia graphics card. One of our discussion thread members, Jeff ('rjeffb') has a spare, Sapphire ATi Radeon HD4550 low profile 512mb DDR2 video/graphics card with integrated AMD High Definition Audio Device (HDMI audio passthrough). It's the same card that several on this thread (including me) have chosen to replace the OEM Sony/nVidia card.

Cheers!
Robert.

hi tried last thread but still no sound, i had a gforce 8500gt in my xl100 that worked but put it in the 301 and nothing no picture, do you know how much the hd4550 is going for as got to get sound somehow.

REPLY: Jeff will be checking the thread. I suggest you send him a 'PM' (private message) so you can discuss price with him. The Private Message link is in the upper right-hand corner of the page (look in the "Welcome" box). Recipient username: rjeffb

Jeff is a 'Jersey Boy'; no ... not that Jersey. Other side of the pond. NEW Jersey (USA).

Cheers!
Robert.

Hi Lardys

I have a vgx-xl302 with the original 7600, upgraded to Win7 Home Premium 32bit.
The 7600 driver is the one that comes automatically in Windows Updates (8.17.12.5896) and the audio driver is the standard Microsoft one (6.1.7601.17514).
I don't use sigmatel, as there doesn't seem to be any need for it.

I haven't had any sound problems, except once during an update, when it switched itself from SPDIF to Line.
I thought the sound had stopped working, but just needed to change back to SPDIF in the control panel to get it working again.
Could it be something as simple as this in your case?

Kate

Amazing, I log in and see two PMs from different people both wanting my spare 4550. Incredible!

I'll sell it for $35 shipped. Lardys, you have dibs because you were the first to post and the first to PM me, but first, I want to clarify something...


I see you did an upgrade to Win 7. Did you totally, completely kill the audio driver? Not just uninstall, but when you uninstalled you clicked the box that says "remove this driver" so there's no question that Windows 7 is using the native Microsoft driver (Windows 7 supports the SigmaTel) and if there's still a problem THEN you install the latest driver that Ren pointed you to?

Also, are you getting coax signal out? I'm not suggesting that you actually give up on SPDIF, the XL coax isn't really very good, but it could be useful for diagnosis. I'm sure you've gone into Control Panel > Sound, Properties, selected the various SPDIF frequencies and capabilities and clicked "Test" (because Windows 7 is maddening in its bizarre behavior regarding SPDIF appearing not to work but actually the problem not being in the hardware and driver at all - see my recent posts on this very topic).

Are you in any way capable of running sound through HDMI? The reason I ask is because the 4550 has a very aggressive sound-thru-HDMI feature that is either annoying (if you don't need it) or great (if that's you're preferred way of getting sound and skipping SPDIF entirely). If you read my old posts you'll see that a consequence of my upgrading to the 4550 and ATI drivers was, unfortunately, it permanently killed my SPDIF. Almost nobody other than me experienced that problem, but I was not the only one (i.e. me and one other person).

In answer to a question I was PM'd, my 4550 low-profile has no fan. But it's still twice as fast as the 7600 and a whole less buggy.

I posted back on page 77.

My xl301 doesn't have a Blu-Ray drive just a dvd (rw?). Nor does it have that cable card thingy. We have a seperate box for digital cable.

I used the recovery partition to restore my PC to the original state and then used Windows Update to update it. I also used nvidia update the video card, it now shows GT not GTL.

I used the registry hack to get 1080P

Our digital box is also a PVR so I don't use the tuner cards.

I'm using the Line in to transfer my vinyl LPs to th Sony.

The hard drive is 250 GB,not RAID. Half full

Netflix has opened here in Ireland and runns smoothly via the xl-301 to a SONY Bravia.

There was something else i wanted to say but can't remember

fjk, welcome back! Glad to hear everything is working. Do you use it to record television at all? I have to admit I am totally unfamiliar with how the R.o.I. does its TV signal - do you use that h.263 encoding scheme that the U.K. is now using, and are you able to record it? BTW Jim and our other members of the U.K. contigient, I'm not sure if I saw (probably I missed it) any review of how Windows 7 native support of .263 encoding has helped record British HDTV. Oh and don't worry about your driver showing GT, that's fine. More than fine, actually.

Lardys, the card is yours for the asking, the other person admitted he was from the U.K. and I told him that adding shipping and Paypal (I pay a fee for Paypal processing), it would be more money than it's worth and to source a different card locally.

Speaking of which, Ren something to consider is whether or not that card, drawing only 250 watts (or maybe it was amps?...) does that totally cool new CCC thing of being able to treat multiple monitors like one big monitor. I forget what ATI calls it. I am not talking about a desktop spread out over two monitors but the O/S seeing one godawful big monitor so when you maximize a screen it doesn't maximize the window onto one screen but across two or three. It is also not that ridiculous "Crossfire" kludge of having two or three video cards with dongles interconnecting them, what idiot came up with that idea anyway? This might not mean much to a solitaire player like you, but to someone playing Portal 2 or Battlefield 3 in two-player split screen mode it would be highly desireable. Requires a recent version of CCC, Windows 7...and certain 6XXX ATI cards. Good luck!

Thanks for the welcome, jeff. TV in Ireland. When I was a child there was no TV station in the republic. But thank the stars we could pick up BBC and UTV with a roof aerial. Many years later cable came in and increased the quality of the signal and more channels. The signal was analogue and the cable went into the RF socket on the Tv and the tv tuner sorted the channels. Later digital became available with a set top box, input via RF output via SCART (Google that one, it was a dongle about the size of a zippo lighter, VCRs connected via scart, it talks both ways) I got the xl301 about five years ago and then the cable company brought out PVRs. So for recording the xl301 became superflous. Then I heard Netflix were coming so the xl301 came back into service.

The TV used PAL rather than Nstc(?). Dont know what the digital signal uses.

I'm read through the thread. I'm puzzled as to how the sound is outputted (is that a word). Does the sigmatel chip output the sound via the nvidia card or what?

There are dual tuner cards, avermedia, i think. One is connected also to the front video socts, composite ans s-video. I'll use this to record VHS tapes to the sony.

That's it for now. Thanks for your input, you are a very knowledgable person


I'm flumoxed as to how Netflix is outputting sound. I just click the movie and away she goes

Just came across this link for nvidia 7600 gtl drivers

http://www.sony.de/discussions/message/715059

Hi Jeff, fjk's potted history of TV in Ireland reflects the situation in the UK.

I have the vgx-xl302, which came with twin Avermedia tuners. These can receive analogue (from a set top box) or DVB-T (Digital Video Broadcasting Terrestrial) from an aerial (antenna).

"Freeview", which broadcasts using DVB-T, is currently the most common form of free to air service in the UK, and includes the BBC channnels. As it's free of charge to UK residents (all UK TV owners pay a fixed annual "TV license" fee, which is effectivly a government tax rather than a payment for a specific service), we have no licences attached to Recorded TV files, and we don't have the same DRM issues as in the USA when managing the files.

Unlike fjk, I soon abandoned my PVR, and I record all my TV via Media Center. As I tend to record far more than I actually have time to watch, the capacity of the PVR was soon exceeeded, whereas I can easily move .wtv files to NAS storage.

The majority of Freeview channels are still broadcast in Standard Definition, and until last year if you wanted HD you had to take out a cable or satellite subscription. However, we are now able to receive five free HD channels, in DVB-T2 format, on Freeview. The Avermedia tuners cannot receive DVB-T2. As this format is still fairly new, only a couple of options have so far been developed.

From BlackGold, there are PCI-e tuners (http://shop.blackgold.tv/epages/BT31...Tuner_Products). I haven't heard of anyone using PCI-e tuners successfully with the VGX, but would be interested to hear from anyone out there.

Personally, I have addded a PCTV Nanostick T2 (http://www.pctvsystems.com/Products/...B/Default.aspx) on a USB port, and in conjunction with the Avermedia tuners, this works well.

Cheers,
Kate.

For anyone interested:
Starting bid GBP 450.00, 0 bids so far, ends tomorrow.

Cheers,
Kate

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sony-Vaio-...58331738850483

I got a good chuckle out of that GTL driver link. As you go through this vast thread one ongoing, well, thread you see is that drivers and fixes to our problems pop up in the darndest places. Indonesian webs sites, Turkish web sites, German web sites. We have had to be most intrepid about finding support (I cannot imagine that most of us would have hung onto these machines for so long without this forum because none of us single-handedly would have had the resources to find all of this information! Well, except perhaps Techieg, but then he's a strange visitor from another planet with advanced technology anyway). I do note that while that post is fairly recent, the driver itself does not look like something particularly new from Sony and I would be astonished if Sony had recently written a genuinely new 7600 driver. In any event, I was fascinated to find that as of this late date Sony continues to warn users from installing non-Sony drivers because doing so might accidentally break something when in fact the real story is doing so might accidentally fix something.

The audio output from the SigmaTel is, "usually," pretty straightforward. As-designed, an XLX pumps all audio out through the SigmaTel except for SPDIF, which is piped straight through but still under the SigmaTel's supervision anyway. Windows decides to muddle things by imposing various logic routines regarding what happens if for example you're listening to SPDIF and your telephone, which is also routed through your computer, happens to ring. What audio device and driver is responsible for handling that? Because most audio applications, including later versions of Windows' own Media Player, don't care about this, over the years a pile of haphazard and conflicting code has developed that when something doesn't work, it's maddening trying to figure out why.

It's bad enough just dealing with native Windows' behavior, but when you add an additional audio system it can get really complicated. For example, your HDMI is capable of carrying simple stereo audio, and when you upgrade to a newer ATI card it is capable of handling full surround sound. Even if you elect not to install the HDMI sound driver (which is installed by default unless you say otherwise), Windows may try to install an OEM driver for it. In my case, an ATI card just killed my SigmaTel completely so I deactivated the SigmaTel within the Vaio BIOS and installed a USB sound box with its own drivers (yes, yet another set of drivers). If that sounds like a hassle, it was; but I assure you that the boost in performance and picture quality over the 7600 was worth it. The universal opinion of members here is: ditch that 7600 as quick as you can! It's not so much that the 7600 is a bad card (although it has certainly been long eclipsed, even the ATI 4550 most of us are running is now considered old) but that the 7600GTL is a bizarre, deliberately-crippled card provided by Sony as some sort of cruel joke on its customers.

I can certainly see Netflix being the grass-roots solution to standardization of television across the world. I wonder if they had that in mind as a corporate goal!

We watched a Netflix movie last night. The HDMI of the XLx goes to an HDMI input on my ONKYO A/V reciever (7.1). I sure the sound output was at least 5.1 on the speakers. Whether that was simulated 5.1 from the Onkyo, I'm not sure.

There is not a lot of info on the Netflix site. You have to use an activation code to register devices like a PS3, except for straight from PC to TV. There is no program like iTunes, just click the movie, and bob's your uncle.

Customer support number in Ireland gets me through to California?! Phoned Microsoft support recently and got through to mainland China?!

Can't help thinking of "The Big Bang Theory" when I look through this site

REPLY: Thanks Kate. Looks like the auction ended without bids. Either the price was set too high or the "collection in person" requirement might have served as bidder discouragement. I know it would be for me. Even getting the unit for 450 GBP (about $690 US dollars), I would still need to add a minimum of about $2,900-$3,100 US for the plane fares and hotel in order to "collect" the darned thing in Loughborough Leicestershire, GB, United Kingdom, and bring it home. Not to mention the import duties! Best I personally stick with EBay US, huh?



That said, I am STILL diligently trying to find a US spec. cosmetically perfect VGX-XL3 unit. I've been looking for about 6-9 months, but the only one I found on EBay had cosmetic issues on the front/face panel, and a question about its functionality (sounded like the owner may have buggered an attempt to upgrade the BIOS. ("Fools rush in .....")

Then I learned by talking with a parts rep at Sony that the US spec. XL3 unit shares the same motherboard with the UK/Euro spec VGX-XL301, and XL302. Hmmm. That has opened up some possibilities.

I am overall happy with my US spec. VGX-XL2A, ... except of course for the 4GB memory limitation of the Intel ICH7R/DH chipset, and of course the Pentium D 920 2.8GHz processor limitation. If I could even find a XL3 motherboard, I would be tempted. Sony wants something like $400 US just for the XL3 motherboard; and only has two new ones left in inventory!

As an aside, I did pick up a nice deal on EBAy last week for a US spec VGX-XL1A unit, with two VGP-XL1B changers, in original boxes. The purchase was $350 + $100 cross-country UPS shipping ($450 US total). And there were some nice extras in the deal: such as a collection of nearly 500 music CD's burned onto an added media hard disk, .MP3 format at 320kbps and a nice match to my own musical tastes; a licensed copy of Microsoft Office Small Business edition (with original discs); the OEM Sony OS and applications discs, etc. Here's the EBay link for that auction:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/150733666841...84.m1438.l2649

I didn't have the heart to tell the seller that I am probably going to resell the two changers without even opening the boxes, and am planning to disassemble and "part-out" his treasured VGX-XL1 unit to cover the cost of my purchase.

I am planning to keep the 'cosmetically perfect' XL1 case, and drill-out the pop-rivets on the rear panels and open up the lower portion of the perforated cooling assembly panel to accommodate a new, standard configuration state-of-the-art mATX motherboard. I'll rebuild it with Windows 7 "Ultimate", an Intel i7 processor with a Cooler-Max horizontal fan/radiator & tube CPU cooling module, 16GB of DDR3 memory, etc.)

It will be an interesting "project". And if anyone is interested I can post occasional progress photos here. If I'm successful I guess I'll have to get out my extra-fine-tipped Pentel drafting pen and change the numeral "1" on the tiny little insert label on the top, right front of the case to a "4"; my kit-bashed machine will then officially be a VGX-XL4A model!!!!

If any of you have ideas to contribute to my kit-bash project planning, please be sure to pass them along to me here. I have already found a couple of nice motherboards which are leading possibilities, and which should be a nice fit in the XL case (after dispensing with the OEM internal cooling assembly and altering the rear I/O panels of the case). But before ordering the new motherboard I'll remove the OEM XL1 motherboard from the unit I just purchased, in order to be able to do a physical side-by-side matching to the new boards, ensuring the mounting screw points, etc.

That said, I'm confident -- after a helpful telephone conversation with a tech at ASUStek -- that everything about the mounting of these OEM SONY/ASUStek boards except the unit-specific cut-out mods made for SONY at the rear of the board, is common to the other mATX P5LP-series boards that they also built for Dell, HP, etc. All of the other mods will be overcome by dispensing with unneeded/unwanted components inside the box.

And when you compare the Internet photos of the bare SONY/ASUStek "P5LP-MB-2" P945 - ICH7R/DH chipset (XL1 & XL2 models) and "#178964213" - P965 -ICH8/DH chipset (XL3 model) motherboards with the ASUStek P5LP boards built for HP and Dell, they are all the same mATX fit configuration.

Once I get around the OEM motherboard limitations issue, I will also resolve the non-standard 18-pin power supply issue so that I can use a 20/24-pin standard power supply in the correct form factor, or even just gut the OEM power supply box and install the innards (guts) of a 500w-600w compact ATX power supply (... Shhhhh! Don't tell Underwriters Laboratories. It'll be our secret )

I had a passing thought of just giving up on the VGX-XL box and starting fresh, with a new desktop HTPC case. But I still believe in right and wrong -- the moral compass, thing -- and you just do not give up on a beautiful woman whom has spent years by your side (and acquire a "trophy" to replace her), just because she's getting older! So .....

Let me know, anyone, if you get any ideas. I'll keep them all in my "VGX-XL4 project planning file" (and we'll name them after you! HA.)

Cheers!
Robert.

01-13-12 07:05 AM
fjk61011 wrote: Update on my vgx-xl301

"I'm using the Line in to transfer my vinyl LPs to th Sony."

Hi fjk. And a belated "welcome back" from me, as well.

I am curious why you have decided to make analog-to-digital transfers for your vinyl LP's and videos (as opposed to ripping digital disks or downloading digital copies from a torrent site for making backup copies on your hard disk of those records and movies which you already own)?

If it's not an aesthetic (sound) preference, what you are endeavoring to do is going to be a very time-consuming task if you have a large collection, and will arguably give you an inferior end result than digital downloads and digital-to-digital transfers. Most especially true with video. VHS is only 230-250 lines of horizontal resolution standard play 'SP' video tapes. Even a relatively small 700MB DivX or Xvid download of a DVD movie rip will be vastly superior in video and audio quality over a several GB size digital transfer from VHS, which takes hours to create. Converting video tapes will just fill up your hard disk with low-quality junk.

Now, that said, I know of three people here in the States who have told me they much prefer the "warmth" and "space" they are able to retain from transferring well-produced vinyl LP's to digital .WMA or .MP3 files. And if they are referring to retaining some of the "warmth" I have experienced listening to vinyl, vs the digital CD version, I know what they are talking about (it's an individual preference thing, of course). One friend of mine, a classic jazz fanatic, once explained it to me like this. He said ...



I think that's probably also referred to as "ambiance", huh?

However if you want to tackle this personal music/video collection digital conversion/transfer to your hard disk with the least effort, let me know and I'll help get you set up with the applications and download sites to do direct digital-to-digital (only really applicable, however, if you have a broadband Internet connection).

[ Important Footnote here: I'm only talking about the 100% LEGAL method of duplicating your collection from the Internet; which means you must retain your own original LP's and video-tape movies in order to legally possess the digital "backup copies" on your media hard disk (you can just box up your old LP's and tapes, and stick them in the garage. But don't get rid of them or you can't keep the digital copies, either). If you download a digital copy of something which you don't already own in analog format, I assume that would probably be a violation of copyright law in the RoI, just like it is in the States?]

Anyway, send me a 'PM' if you want to give it a try. I'll be happy to work with you to get you headed down the digital-to-digital road if you don't already know how to do it with your VGX-XL system.

Yesterday 05:52 AM
fjk61011 wrote:
"... When I was a child there was no TV station in the republic. But thank the stars we could pick up BBC and UTV with a roof aerial."

REPLY: Hey, I can relate even here in the States. British TV changed my life. My own pre-adolescence (or should I say my "latency" period) would not have been nearly so memorable nor 'formative' were it not for being able to watch "Benny Hill" and "Monty Python's Flying Circus." HA!

I had to covertly watch Benny late at night, of course; after the folks had gone to bed. My dear departed Mom did not approve of Mr. Hill, and she was thoroughly convinced that his show would irreversibly corrupt me, and would undo all of her hard work as a mother. And alas, ... it appears that she was absolutely correct! (Sorry, Mom).

Cheers!
Robert.

REPLY: Jeff, I think you might be referring to "FleX Edition Eyefinity"? If that's what you mean, then some of the specs on the Sapphire site indicates yes, that the new Sapphire HD6670 low profile card does support that (one monitor on the HDMI port; the second monitor on the DVI port. It says FleX Eyefinity only supports three monitors on its video/graphics cards with one or more "DisplayPort" outputs).

True, FleX Eyefinity wouldn't mean much to me for MY level of gaming (Windows Solitaire), but I did think of that cool article I posted on the thread a while back about the micro-thin wall-sized digital dots televisions that the Brits are working on, for availability in the not-to-distant future. Imagine having two, 100-inch+ wide-screen TV's side by side on the wall -- less than the thickness of a human hair on the wall -- and being able to watch two NFL games at the same time, ....or finally being able to watch "Lawrence of Arabia" in the original super wide aspect ratio as it was intended to be experienced, without half the screen just big, black horizontal bars! Cool, cool, cool!

Cheers!
Robert.

hi Robert, It was Netflix that got me to resurect my XL301. I'll only be transfering one or two VHS tapes to digital, My University conferring ceremony and my brothers Live Aid tapes.

Yeah, the BBC and UlsterTV, my childhood was Doctor Who (the 1st Doctor, William Hartnell), Fireball XL-5, Stingray and Thunderbirds and all that great stuff.

My vinyl collection transfer is so as I can play albums and singles anywhere on my home network

Edit: not to forget Torchy the Battery Boy

Hi Jeff, The first mistake was taking the lid of the XL301, "What are you doing now?"

Anyway the graphics card has a pretty cool heatsink, a bit like Uhura and Spock's ear thingy in Star Trek. It curls around the board to the cpu heatsink

As Netflix was the main reason for reason for resurrecting the xl301 and I can't find detailed specs about their transmissions, I'm wondering about the upgrade of the graphics card.Will that ati 4550 make a huge difference?

Ok, so I ran another electrical cable so the multi media stuff has dedicated power sockets.

While tightening the screws I managed to break the back box. I have everykind of backbox except the one I need

Also, I have a challenge for all of you. maked a little fusion reactor powering a generator. These would go in each a/v unit thus eliminating power leads. Or a tiny fuel cell like they used on Gemini.

But don't get Sony to build them.

REPLY: I hope that's a 'cold fusion' reactor that you're proposing, Francis, or along with the convenience of eliminating power leads to the XL system and peripherals will come a pressing need to upgrade the household air conditioning and the water bills will go through the roof! Alternatively, how about little "Flux Capacitors"? (although I'm uncertain whether you actually need to couple those with a DeLorean? Those suckers are more rare than hen's teeth.)

I do like the idea of dispensing with the power leads cabling. Wasn't there a famous line in "Blazing Saddles" (née, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre"):


Now, I have a question. Since I like to be able to follow the discussions here, even when I can't contribute to them, I have to ask ... what the heck is a "backbox" or "back box". I find an Internet reference to backbox and Linux, but I suspect you're talking about some sort of tool, maybe?
The term is lost on me, on this side of the pond, where we actually speak 'American', rather than proper English.

Cheers!
Robert.

Anyway, I got your 'PM', Francis, and have responded.

Cheers!
Robert.

Back boxes come in basically two flavours. One sinks into the hollow behind the plasterboard/sheetrock, and the face plate with the sockets screws onto the box so as it's flush with the wall.

The other sort is for solid walls, they are about an inch deep, the box goes on the surface of the solid wall and the socket face plate screws onto them. I just checked the label on the new one I bought and it says mounting box, so I guess that's the correct term